Well after only a few months of ownership our Panda is dead. We had a hard hit into a parked lifted SUV at between 30-40 MPH. The car has been totaled by insurance even though there is no frame damage at all. The car could be repaired with bolt on parts but they cost $14K and the salvage value is around 12K according to the adjuster so she is economically dead. My wife had a sore neck for a couple of days but is fine. The airbags did not deploy. We had a 2 gallon gas can in the frunk as well as a level 1 charger and the inflator and none were damaged despite the frunk being pushed back 2; from it's orignial location. The frunk was fractured. The lifter SUV went over the crash bar so all the damage was to the fenders, hood and frunk plus the mechanicals up there but the carbon fiber safey cocoon was not touched at all.

The dealer sent out a bunch of people to inspect the car and all were very happy the way it reacted to the lifted SUV.

I am glad your wife is ok. It is surprising that the airbags didn't go off.

If you don't mind me asking, was there gas in the gas can? What brand was the gas can? It is impressive that it survived ok. This is the first time I have heard of an actual collision with a gas can in the frunk, though there have probably been a few.

I have a 2-gallon rotopax gas tank that I have used a few times. Though, it's only in the car when I am on a long trip to an area with sparse gas stations.

The deceleration has to exceed a certain g-factor to trigger the airbags. Looks like there was enough crumple to absorb energy that that threshold didn't get exceeded. Now, if the car had hit on the more rigid frame, they should have been triggered. That will break and crumple some, but the deceleration will be a lot steeper versus crushing the plastic components in the hood, etc.

These pics were at the insurance lot. The crash was at night on wet roads. The gas can was 100% full. The gas can is not close buy but I will try to find the manufacturer. I dont think the can was anything special as everything in the frunk was fine despite the plastic box itself being cracked and broken and 2' further back than normal.

We are looking at another i3 new or used (would love a 17' or of course the new 19'), a new Model 3D or a used Model S 85/90D. The all wheel drive is appealing being at 8000 ft up in Utah near Park City. We get a lot of snow. The i3 does OK with snow tires but if it really dumps it will get stuck where our all wheel drive Audi's are fine. So an all wheel drive Tesla with snow tires would be a replacement for both the i3 and the Audi's. We really liked our i3. We are also looking at the residual values and a new i3 at $50K vs a new Model 3 and $55K (dual motor and optioned out). The Tesla values are holding really well where a 5 year old i3 is $15K. Still looking at it.

I am glad everyone is okay. I am very surprised that at 30-40mph, the only suffered that much damage. There isn’t much above the crash bar to absorb the energy—were you on full brakes just prior to the impact? The i3’s body structure is very impressive, but looks like none of it saw any action in this crash (which is great). Got any pics of the suv?